European stocks end flat
LONDON, England (Reuters) - European bourses were flat in late trade on Friday, as weak oil shares and a slump in BT ahead of a key presentation slugged it out with firmer pharmaceuticals, while benign U.S. data assuaged interest rate fears.
Also holding the market back was Dutch supermarket group Ahold, which fell heavily on accounting concerns.
But as the sun set on one holiday-shortened week, bullish strategists looked forward to next week, hoping U.S first quarter results, which are due to pick up apace, might stir the range-bound European market out of its stupor.
"Seeing as U.S. GDP growth is going to be a lot better than as initially expected, this reporting season could be the trigger for the next upward leg in the market," said Teun Draaisma, European equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.
"We're still optimistic on equities, we think they offer good value, and we're still playing the cyclical theme."
The FTSE Eurotop 300 was flat at 1615 GMT, with most markets closed, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 shed 0.33 percent.
This left the two indices down 1.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, on the week.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 has traded within a range since early March that is just 2.4 percent wide and is flush with the very top of a broader, 100-points range established back in November.
The big cap DJ Euro Stoxx has lagged slightly, losing three percent since the start of the year compared to the broader market's flat performance, underlining the extent to which shares still lack real upward momentum, strategists say, despite mounting evidence of economic recovery.
In New York, markets were also mixed, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.41 percent and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite down 0.92 percent.
British drugs heavyweights, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, were among the biggest blue-chip risers, recovering from Thursday's heavy falls after a profit warning from U.S. rival Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The pharmaceutical sector contributed almost five positive index points to the FTSE Eurotop 300.
Less supportive was the energy sector, which edged lower on hopes that U.S. intervention might calm rising Middle East tensions and stabilise strong oil prices.
Anglo-Dutch Shell and France's TotalFinaElf fell 0.59 percent and 0.81 percent respectively, and helped wipe over five billion euros off the oil sector's market capitalisation.
British incumbent fixed-line telco, BT, fell 3.7 percent as investors turned cautious ahead of Monday's strategy presentation by new chief executive Ben Verwaayen.
Dutch food retailer Ahold, meanwhile, slipped 5.92 percent, with traders blaming the firm's annual report published on Thursday where the restatement of its accounts under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) showed its 2001 earnings were 85 percent lower than in 2000.
Adding to the gloom, Lehman Brothers cut its price target on Ahold to 35 euros from 41 euros.
BT, Ahold, and oil stocks together accounted for almost five negative index points on the Europtop 300.
Apart from BT's eagerly-awaited strategic presentation, Monday also sees the end of a lockup period covering German giant Siemens' 41.3 percent stake in major chip maker Infineon.
The DJ Stoxx auto index was the second-strongest sector after pharmas, adding 0.88 percent, helped by DaimlerChrysler, which rose 1.44 percent.
The stock was lifted by Merrill Lynch after it raised its earnings forecasts for rival General Motors on Thursday.
Basic resources were cheered by U.S peer Alcoa, which is the world's No.1 aluminium producer and kicked off the U.S. reporting season with solid first quarter results.
But Swiss employment services agency Adecco, which reports on April 17, fell 3.72 percent on talk of a possible profit warning, though the firm declined to comment.
And worries over their exposure to the looming insolvency of media group Kirch put pressure on German banks.
HVB Group, which is owed some 460 million euros by Kirch, led the losers, dropping 2.44 percent.
Spain's second-biggest bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, shed 1.75 percent, hit by Standard & Poor's move to cut its credit outlook on the bank to "negative" from "stable" citing its exposure to troubled Argentina's economy and a Bank of Spain probe into how it booked past capital gains.
U.S. March non-farm payrolls added 58,000 new workers. Economists had expected a gain of 41,000. The unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent slightly above a forecast of 5.6 percent.
"There is nothing for the Fed to worry about here," said Matthew Wickens, global economist at ABN AMRO bank, who added that the data showed there was no immediate need for a hike in U.S. interest rates.
